It is an extremely neat idea, even though Black can probably equalize with 3. The great attraction of 3.Qh5! is that it is a hypermodern move: its purpose is not to mate on f7 but to exert pressure on Black’s centre pawns from along the fifth rank. c5 3.Nf3 would be a Black Knights’ Tango reversed, I guess) 3. One such is 1.Nc3 g6 2.h4 another is 1.Nc3 d5 2.e3 e5 (2. Certain other unusual suggestions, however, intrigue and tease the mind. The latter is surely the chess equivalent of “extracting the urine”, and its sole purpose is probably to wind the opponent up. Naturally, there are several offbeat lines that one might be extremely reluctant to play in a serious competitive game: 1.Nc3 c5 2.g4 or 1.Nc3 c5 2.Ne4 (Zvonimir Mestrovic’s provocative move) come into this category, for me. Nxd4 13.Bf6+Kg8 14.Nh6#) and Black resigned. Now Black is lost.ĩ.Bg5! With the threat of 10.Nxc6 if 9. d5! The same move just loses a pawn here. 5.Nf5 In the analogous Scotch line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nf5 Black gets good counter-play with Steinitz’s 5. Nf6 5.Bg5 Bb4 is the “main line”, if there is such a creature here, and now 6.Qd3!? is interesting and virtually unexplored. 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Now we get a kind of open game (such as a Scotch) without e4 or with e4 deferred. d5!? is a worthwhile gambit to try, since 3.Nxe5 d4 4.Ne4? Qd5 wins a knight. But many of Ekebjaeg’s strategic victories, displaying subtle technique, are rather long, so here is something snappier, a miniature by the Estonian master Aarne Hermlin:ġ.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 2. The most impressive games, to my mind, are those of the correspondence grandmaster Ove Ekebjaeg – a player new to me -and Larsen’s two games against Gheorghiu and Calvo from the 1960s are pretty superb too. There are victories on the White side by such well known players as Timman, Gulko, Larsen, Nimzowitsch (his victory against Alekhine at Semmering 1926) and Charousek, as well as games by many aficionados of 1.Nc3 (or “1.Nc3 riders”, in Aasum’s phrase). The opening is illustrated with 99 main games, and there are myriad other complete games in the notes. As a rule, he gives a choice of two or three White systems, different in style, for each serious Black response. 1.Nc3 can easily lead to either the Veresov (1.Nc3 d5 2.d4) or the Vienna (1.Nc3 e5 2.e4) – but Keilhack’s study focuses mainly on independent lines for White. The transpositions that can occur are many and varied – e.g. Keilhack writes that “the ‘perfect’ 1.Nc3 player needs an especially good general opening knowledge, due to the many transpositional possibilities” and this is one of the strengths of 1.Nc3, its relation to other “respectable” openings. e6, the author gives 3.Nf3 as one possibility (and of course 3.d4 transposes into a normal French) and there are other moves available to Black (e.g. c6, when one line given is 3.Qf3 (Goldman’s interesting move, rather than 3.d4 or Fischer’s old favourite 3.Nf3). This is an innovative approach and a model for other opening authors to follow.Īfter 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 Black can respond with 2. A substantial section (25 pages), it presents a detailed examination of 10 key middlegame themes. Especially impressive in Keilhack’s consideration of this line is Section 8: “Strategic elements of the Van Geet Attack”. e5 (1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5) or the Black Knights’ Tango. This is the independent 1.Nc3 line that has been most explored and it leads to intriguing, interesting middlegames, some of which may feel familiar to those who play the Nimzowitsch Defence with. Just under 100 pages are devoted to the Van Geet Attack, which arises after: 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 d4 3.Nce2 e5 4.Ng3 (4.f4 is also interesting). For while the author is clearly an advocate for 1.Nc3 he is by no means a blind believer in the efficacy of all the lines and systems that can follow from it he draws attention to the opening’s difficulties where this is warranted.įor a practical chess player, the crucial question to ask of a book such as this is: Can 1.Nc3 form the basis of an opening repertoire which is viable for White and testing for Black? Keilhack makes a good case that it can. It carries the subtitle “Studies of an Unorthodox Chess Opening”, and this seems significant. Knight on the Left: 1.Nc3 is a translation of Harald Keilhack’s original German work, revised and updated to August 2005. Schachverlag Kania, October 2005, ISBN 3-93
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